Tanning hides and skins



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

HENRY BRETNEY, 0F SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

TANNING HIDES AND SKINS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,555, dated January 25, 1853.

To all whom/@'15 may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY BRETNEY, of Springfield, in the county ofClark and State of Ohio, have invented cert-ain new and usefulImprovements in the Process of Tanning Hides and Skins, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, andin which- Figure l is a view in perspective and Fig. 2 is a. verticalsection.

Tt is desirable that all the hides in a vat of tan liquor should havetheir entire surfaces so exposed to the liquor that they will be equallyand simultaneously impregnated by it throughout.

To accomplish this more perfectly than hashitherto been done, is theobject of my invention which consists of an improved process whereby thehides are spread out, floated and towed horizont-ally in parallellayers, through the liquor which, in circulating between these layers,acts uniformly on both the sides or surfaces of every hide.

Suitablemechanism for carrying this process into eifect may beconstructed and operated as follows:

Within a tan vat (B), of any suitable area, depth and shape, a centralvertical shaft (A) is erected which is turned by a horse or other animalhitched to the outer extremity of a sweep (D) which projects from theshaft. Or this shaft may be turned by steam or other power. The verticalshaft (A) is litted with four series of parallel radial arms (C) whichextend from the c-enter to the circumference of the vat; the arms ineach series are ranged one above an other, at four inches (more or less)apart` and the several series are separated at equal angular distances.

The number of these arms, their length, and the area and depth of thevat, or, in other words, the size of the apparatus generally, will begoverned by the number of hides it is desired to subject simultaneouslyto the tanning process, which is conducted as follows. The hides areseparately tied or otherwise secured, by one edge, to the horizontalarms; each arm having one or more hides attached to it as there may beroom.

The hides thus secured by one edge to the horizontal arms will hangloosely over each other within the vat. l/Vhen the hides are allattached to the arms, the vat is filled with liquor. The vertical shaftwith its arms carrying the hides is then set in motion which will causethe several hides to spread out and arrange themselves horizontally andparallel to each other, as in that position they will meet with theleast resistance in moving through the liquor. The hides thus rotatingin horizontal pla-nes, or separated layers, will have a free circulationof liquor between them, they being towed, edgewise, by the arms throughthe liquor; and, in being straightened out, having both their surfacesor sides equally exposed to its action, they will be uniformly tanned,which is not the case where the hides are allowed to be in contact onewith another so as to exclude the liquor from those portions forming thecenter of the mass which thus fail to getv impregnated as soon as themore exposed parts.

llllith this apparatus, it will be seen that, by the surface pressure ofthe liquor on the hides, more or less resistance will'be felt by them inproportion as they are rotated fast or slow, above the necessaryvelocity required to straighten them. The effect of such resistance willbe to stretch them more or less, thereby more perfect-ly straighteningthem, and, by slightly opening their pores, increasing their absorbenttendency and consequently accelerating the tanning process, no injuriousstretch however being put upon them but only so much as is advantageouswhich may be regulated, to the greatest nicety, by varying the velocityof the towing arms, so that the same apparatus, by simply altering thevelocity of the towing arms, is readily adaptable to all descriptions ofhides, a thousand (less or more) of which may thus simultaneously havetheir entire surfaces equally exposed to the action of the liquor in thevat.

The continuous rotation of the hides, during tanning, will be necessaryto insure their uniform tanning, for as soon as the motion ceases thehides .will settle together and form into compact masses to the interiorof which the liquor would not find access.

The constant motion of the apparatus keeps the liquor so thoroughlyagitated that the tanning matter is equally distributed throughout, sothat the hides at the top of the vat are tanned as rapidly as those nearthe bottom.

Having thus described my improved process of tanning hides, what l claimas new large, is equally and constantly exposed to the action of thetanning liquor, and the stretching action upon the hides is adjustedsubstantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

HENRY BRETNEY.

Witnesses C. F. MCWILLIAMS, WM. WHITE.

